Personal Narrative: How College Has Changed My Life

I believed my life was pre-determined the moment I began college. The five-year plan I constructed detailed how I was going to graduate with a computer science degree in three years and become head of a tech start-up company. I was going to be a female Mark Zuckerberg by the time I was 25, and nothing could stop me. My world was meticulously ordered down to the minute. So when that plan failed spectacularly, I was destroyed. The life I had set out for myself unraveled before my eyes I could do nothing about it. Worse still was that the failure was my own doing.

After spending my first two years of college at University of Washington Bothell I began to notice changes occurring in my life. I was no longer spending time with friends or family,

I still deal with anxiety on a regular basis, and sometimes waking up everyday is the hardest thing of all. Regardless, I’ve learned that continuing on is the best way to deal with this. I have also learned that although attending classes is still a problem for me, I am able to excel in online learning. By learning in a “safe space” I am able to focus completely on schoolwork, and I found my grades reflecting this over the last year. Eventually, I will move past this and thrive in a social setting once more, but until then I will continue to work towards my goals while building myself back up. This is partially why I am applying to the Integrated Social Sciences degree. I believe that this is the best fit for my learning style, and I know I will be able to apply myself fully to this major. The largest part of this decision, however, is the knowledge of learning about different cultures. Being raised multi-ethnic, I was entranced by cultures around the world because I found a familiarity in the traditions of others that I did not find growing

The destination is never where you expect, and there will always be potholes. The abyss that I thought of myself in was simply a pothole on this road, albeit a deep one. I know I still have some ways to travel before I’m out of it, but the important part is that I keep on travelling. It is in this journey that I think the University of Washington, particularly the Integrated Social Sciences program, can help. My aspiration in life is to become a writer, and by learning of other cultures and relating them to my own life I eventually hope to share this knowledge with others. There are plenty of people who have experienced what I went through and worse, and many of them are infinitely better people then I will ever be. However, by writing down my experiences and what I’ve learned, maybe I can help others travelling through their own potholes of